CC5 ~ 39!

~ 39 ~

Words made of wispy Trash aspects appeared in the air, narrated by the same calm tone as every other tutorial that had played. Joe sighed in relief, turning his attention fully to the training.

Welcome to the Proper Aspect Storage Containment Creation Tutorial! This section is designed to demonstrate the proper creation of Aspect-specific storage devices.

While it is possible to use any bound storage device to store aspects, there are many negatives that come with using non-specific storage. The most obvious and glaring of these issues is the loss of aspects during transfer. Whether it is during initial storage or practical usage, aspects are lost in the inefficient process.

Let’s begin with the creation of an ‘Aspect Jar’. An aspect jar is exactly what it sounds like: a jar-shaped receptacle designed to hold a single type of aspect. Contrary to its name, the jar is not actually hollow. In front of you is a finished jar, a recipe to create the jar, and all the materials needed to craft the jar! Start by inspecting the finished product, and do your best to create the jar on your own by following instructions.

Joe looked at the glass container, picked it up, and tried to find anything special about it. It looked like a growler, a jug used to hold about forty ounces of liquid. There was a small opening at the top, but the opening was only a small indent into the solid… glass? Crystal? It was hard to tell for certain. “Jar-shaped something or other. Got it.”

He read the recipe next, took note of the materials, then the recipe again. “Glass, diamond dust, magna… um… System? I can’t make this. This is clearly a crafting thing, and I can only craft using aspects. Wait… does that mean there are other paths to getting access to aspect usage?”

There was a long wait as the text hovered in the air. Joe wasn’t certain that anything was going to change. With no other options available, he took the time and tried to make the item by following the recipe, but each time he put even two things together… they would break into multiple pieces and a warning message would appear telling him that he could only craft with aspects. “This is clearly not working.”

Tutorial upgraded for free*. Welcome to the Proper Aspect-Created Aspect Storage Containment Creation and Usage tutorial!

“Long name, amazing results.” He laughed in relief, but his eyes caught on something as the words vanished faster than they ever had before. “Wait a second, what’s that asterisk-”

The end result is the same, but the recipe has changed! Now, instead of a varied list of goods that is fairly inexpensive, everything costs aspects and Cores! Congratulations!

“Woo.” Joe cheered along with the tutorial just so it didn’t turn mean. It appeared that his questions weren’t getting answered.

Every aspect needs its own jar. You’ll be happy to note, any aspect jar can be made out of any ranked Core! Each rank of Core has a storage capacity maximum and minimum, and creating a larger storage device requires aspects! Here are the Ranks and min/max!

Trash: 1-100

Damaged: 101-999

Common: 1,000-2,000

Uncommon: 2,001-3,999

Rare: 4,000-6,000

Special: 6,001-7,999

Unique: 8,000-10,000

Artifact: 10,001-14,999

Legendary: 15,000-20,000

Mythical: 20,001-?

“That was… convoluted…” Joe tried to read through it a second time, but the words were vanishing already.

You seem to be someone who learns by doing! Let’s try making a Trash-ranked aspect jar! Take the Trash-ranked Core provided, and follow the instructions on the recipe!

Joe took a long, calming breath and skimmed the recipe. “Oh. That’s not so bad.”

The process was similar to enchanting, but less detail-oriented. It reminded him of something else that he had already done in the past, but for the life of him, he couldn’t remember what it was. He needed to flood the Core with a specific aspect, then hold the Core with his mana in the final shape of the aspect jar. It went surprisingly smoothly… too smoothly. Joe was suspicious.

Item created: Natural Trash Aspect Jar! This jar has a maximum capacity of 100 Trash aspects, and as such required 10 Trash aspects to create, 14 were used.

Great job, trainee! You created a Trash Aspect Jar! __ERROR___

“Oh, come on. I don’t want to lose more hair.” Joe stared the error message down, but luckily the only thing that happened was a continuation of the tutorial.

As you can see, 10% of the maximum storage is required in order to create an aspect jar. Since you created the Aspect Jar without using the proper method, there was a 40% wastage! Oh, no! Let’s look at the next part of the tutorial, and see if we can fix that issue!

“Deep breaths… this is a prerecorded tutorial.” Joe looked down at the new jar in his hands. It was shiny. There was a light gray tinge to the natural blue of the reshaped Core, giving the entire thing the look of a flame trapped in crystal. He really felt that he could have just sat and stared at this all day. Luckily, the tutorial had a voice associated with it, or he would have missed out on the opening lines.

When storing or using the aspects within the jar, a proper Aspect Array is required. Let’s go over how to make the most basic of Aspect Arrays: the Field Array! This is useful for times when you need to reduce something into aspects in the field, or when you just cannot be bothered to take it to a proper reduction site!

Take a look at the sketch, and try to form a three-dimensional version of the design around this Trash-ranked left boot! Once you have managed to form the array, place your jar next to the array and extend a line of mana to the indent of the jar!

More instructions will follow!

If the earlier section had been surprisingly easy, this section was riotously difficult. Joe had plenty of control over the mana when it was in his body, but it constantly wanted to steam away when he was extending it more than an inch past his skin. He ran out of mana over and over again, only getting better due to slamming his face against the issue constantly. He was sure that the tutorial helped, or he certainly wouldn’t have learned how to make the Field Array in the amount of time that he did. Then, he got it. It *clicked* into place.

Spell learned: Field Array. (Max). This spell only has a single rank. By casting this around a target and linking it to an aspect jar, the target can be reduced with a maximum of 5% loss, +1% per rarity level of target aspect! Fixed cost: 100 mana. Can be maintained indefinitely. User cannot move more than five feet from the array, or it will break and need to be re-made.

Skill increase: Mana Manipulation (Student V).

“Wow.” Joe stared at a message he hadn’t seen in far too long. “I suppose that makes sense… manipulation of mana outside of the body was really difficult.”

Congratulations on learning the Field Array! Let’s try it out: reduce the boot and guide the aspects that try to escape into the array, draining them into the jar!

A flash of mana later, the boot was gone. Light grey wispy fire illuminated the array, and all of it was pulled into the jar. He wanted to check it out, but the next section was already starting.

Great work! As a note: recreating the array with more permanent and aspect-absorbent material will allow you to minimize losses when reducing items or creating new ones!

Now let’s use the array to create a second Trash aspect jar! Using the array, surround the Core, link the Trash aspect jar, and place your hands in the ‘hands here’ aspect-influx zone. It has been highlighted this time, so make sure to memorize the pattern for future use! Then, guide the aspects along the mana tubules and convert the Core and aspects into the pattern required for an aspect jar.

It went quickly, just as it had before, and once more, there was a notification of a ‘Natural Aspect Jar’ being created, an error, and a congratulatory message from the system. Then, it seemed that the tutorial was complete.

Don’t forget that you can use more potent Cores to create larger jars! You can also vary the size of the Field Array to surround larger or smaller objects as needed! New information is now always available; in your crafting section, pull up ‘Aspect Jar’ information to refresh your understanding of your storage needs!

Then Joe was back in the cave, staring down at a completed Planar Shift ritual. He blinked a few times and blearily scanned the enclosed space. Just like every time before, it seemed that no time had passed at all. He couldn’t be certain of that, as there was nothing in the cave to show time, but he felt that it was correct. “I… okay, I think that entire thing was telling me that what I really need to do is create a permanent building where I do my crafting. I need a potent array if I ever want to work with Mythical aspects, otherwise the loss is gonna be… just… huge.”

Wisdom +1!

Joe gasped in pleasure. “A mental stat increase! Ooh!”